Back to Life
by Thyra-TigerLily
Summary: A couple of teens are going to the old, abandoned house for Halloween. It's said to be haunted, but it holds a real secret. A secret that might even be scarier, simply because it's real.
1. Chapter I

**A/N: **This is my first chapter-story ever. But please don't go easy on me. I've had this idea on my mind for a while now and Halloween gave me the opportunity to actually write it down. The first chapter is more some sort of prologue. At first the first part might not seem to belong to this story considering what the summery says. Eventually you'll see that it really is a part of the story. I'm not sure if I'll do any romance, but if I will pairings are still undecided. I hope you'll enjoy the story.

**Disclaimer:** I am in no way making money with this story, and also don't own the fandom, Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of it's characters.

**Summery:**  
>A couple of teens decide to have their own Halloween party. To give an eerie feeling to their party, they pick the abandoned house in the woods. The house is said to be haunted by vengeful ghosts. What the teens don't know is it's real secret. A secret that might even turn out to be scarier, simply because it's real.<p>

**A Tribute to Halloween,**

**Back to Life,**

**By Thyra-TigerLily**

…

**Chapter I**

It was cold and dark in the basement, the windows let few to no light in but they didn't help much with keeping the cold outside. There wasn't a lot inside the room. Against one wall stood an old, unstable bed with next to it a small table that served as a nightstand. On the bed was a person, a sixteen year old boy. He was wearing torn clothes and was covered in scars, including a big burn scar on the left side of his face. The boy opened his tired golden eyes and looked at the food that stood on the table in front of him. It wasn't much anymore, not that it had ever been much. The teen had grown to ignore the aching in his stomach that the constant hunger gave him. The thirst was worse anyway. It caused his throat to burn and left his tongue as dry as sand out of the desert.

Cold air came in through a broken window, creating an eerie noise. Most people would think of it as scary, but for the boy it was comforting. It meant it was a normal day or night, with nothing in the outside world to be scared of. Well, nothing except Him. The boy used to have a name for Him. One that didn't really fit anymore, even though it still applied to Him.

Somewhere in the house a door creaked open. A chill went down the boy's spine, even though he knew it was nothing. Creaking doors were only something to worry about when they were accompanied by footsteps. And when there _were_ footsteps the doors, more often then not, didn't creak, but were slammed open.

The teen sat up and let his legs fall over the edge of the bed. When he rested his back against the wall his face changed into a grimace. He leaned forward, supporting his upper body with skeletal arms and let out a pained gasp. It hadn't been a good idea to put that much pressure to the bruises and wounds on his back. He breathed heavily until the only thing left of the pain was a dull, almost non-existing throbbing.

The boy picked up a small piece of food of the table. He brought it to his mouth and nibbled on it. When he was done with it he rinsed his mouth with water which he swallowed afterwards. The burning in his throat would only disappear for a few moments before it would return.

The front door was suddenly slammed open.

The boy's eyes were wide open, showing fear filled, golden irises. Slamming doors meant only one thing, He was back. The teen could hear Him, His footsteps, entering the house. Something that sounded heavy was placed on the floor. In the basement the boy was trembling in fear, heavy things were never good. Footsteps could be heard again, and not long after that various doors were opened.

When He had been in the house for only a couple of minutes, a door, which sounded a lot like the front door, was slammed shut. The footsteps didn't come back. The house was completely silent again, except for the occasional creaking door and the wind blowing through it. That meant He must have left. That was far from the ordinary, however. Normally, He wouldn't leave before tending to the boy.

Said boy was looking confusedly around the basement, listening carefully. He was afraid he might have missed something. That all of a sudden He would be in front of him. After a while, he had no idea how long, of focusing on anything even remotely out of the ordinary, the boy relaxed and could truly believe He had left. Even though he still didn't understand.

This basement had been his home for quite some time now. It hadn't been a good time. To make it bearable the boy tried to know everything that would be constant, things that would always be the same. That way he would be surprised less often. Until now, He had been one of those things.

He'd come what the boy thought was once a week (in the time he'd been here days had started to blend into each other). When He came the routine would always be the same. First He'd lean into him and whisper something into his ear, feeling His breath on his ear making it even more frightful. After that the teen would get punished for whatever reason He had just whispered. Most of the time the boy would pass out after that. If not, he still wouldn't be able to focus on anything happening around him. Being unconscious would be better. It meant he wouldn't be aware of his pain just a little longer. After some time the boy would wake up again, he'd be in pain and his muscles would be sore. On the table would be new food, probably leftovers of His own dinner, and fresh water.

For now the teen just laid down on his bed again, still confused about what had just happened.

…

"I bet that as soon as you're inside, you'll desperately try to get out again." said Jet to Sokka. They were sitting across from each other at the dining table. The conversation had been about tonight, when they'd go to the old house in the woods.

"Well, I bet you won't even dare to set a single foot inside." retorted Sokka.

"To bad I've already been inside." mocked Jet.

"When?" Sokka wanted to know.

"Quit the fighting, boys." demanded Katara. Jet and Sokka had never really gotten along, and Katara always had to make sure they wouldn't hurt the other.

Jet ignored Katara, however, and answered Sokka's question. "Yesterday. I brought some stuff for tonight."

"What did you bring?" asked Ty Lee

"Just some candles and stuff." answered Jet.

Aang didn't really see the use of candles, so he asked, "Why'd you bring candles?"

"We'll need something that radiates light." was Jet's answer, which to him (and almost everybody else) seemed obvious.

"But, won't we just be able to use the lights?" asked Ty Lee.

At that point Azula decided to join the conversation. "You really think there will be any electricity in an abandoned house?"

Ty Lee didn't know what to say to that and kept quiet. Luckily for her, Jet began talking again. "Besides that, it's Halloween. A bit of scary lighting comes with it."

**To be continued…**

**A/N2: **I hope you enjoyed the story this far. The persons who didn't get introduced yet are Toph and Mai. The reason for this is that I simply couldn't think of anything for them to say. I could've let Toph say Azula's sentence, but I felt like it fitted better this way. Mostly because it was said to Ty Lee, and she's more Azula's friend than Toph's. If anything confuses you, just ask in a review or sent me a PM. I'll update ASAP but for now, just click the button below (you know you want to).


	2. Chapter II

**Chapter II**

Eight teenagers, three boys and five girls, were standing in front of the abandoned house. The drive to the woods had taken them fifteen minutes. They had taken Hakoda's car and Sokka had been driving. When they'd parked the car they had walked for another fifteen minutes. The teens were looking at the towering house of dark wood. It held a certain aura which promised that anything in there was up to no good.

"Let's get inside, shall we?" said Jet completely nonchalantly, like the house wasn't even creeping him out the teeniest bit.

"You've been here before, show us how we get inside." said Toph.

Jet walked up to the doors, "The doors aren't locked, so we can just walk right in." and opened them.

Everyone followed the oldest teen inside. Jet immediately opened the box that stood in the middle of the living room. He got out some candles and handed some of them over to Sokka, together they placed them around the room. Jet got a lighter out of the box and lighted the candles.

"You guys know about the ghost who's hunting this place?" asked Toph. "I say we try to get into contact with him."

"Like that will actually work." said Aang

"So what you're saying is that either you don't believe in ghosts, or you're just scared." concluded Toph.

"I just think that ghosts wouldn't stick to just one place." defended Aang himself.

"I say we try someone who's a lot closer to us than some random ghost." said Jet.

"There's no one dead who we all knew." said Mai, sounding like none of this mattered to her.

"Yes, there is." Everyone looked expectantly at Jet. "Zuko."

Azula looked away at the mention of her brother. "Zuko isn't dead, he's just missing." The girl always tried to act like she didn't care. The truth was something else however. She really missed him, even cried about him sometimes. Of course she wouldn't let anyone see the latter.

"Maybe," started Ty Lee. "it's better if we do. I mean, if we can get contact with him we'll know for sure. And if we don't it means there's still a good chance he's still alive."

After everyone was convinced that it could only bring good stuff they put some candles on the floor and made a circle around it.

"So, who knows how this goes?" asked Katara.

It turned out no one knew, so Toph suggested Jet try.

"Why me?" asked Jet.

"Well you were the one to suggest to call Zuko." explained Toph.

Everyone else agreed and after a while Jet began, speaking clearly and loud. "Zuko, are you there?"

…

The boy was sitting on the bed in the basement when he heard the front door being opened. Several pairs of footsteps followed the noise. The boy looked at the heavy door that kept him locked in this room. Why were there more than just one pair of footsteps? wondered the boy, He never brought company.

Talking could be heard in the house. The boy couldn't make out what they were saying, but he was fairly sure he didn't hear Him. Was He not here? Or was is just something like yesterday? One thing was the same, the teen didn't understand. He sat there, waiting in fear. The footsteps and talking stayed.

Without knowing the boy began to make silent noises. Desperate peeps. Small, almost inaudible, cries for help.

The footsteps disappeared and after a while the talking stopped, too. Only to come back, louder this time. The boy could make out the words now.

"Zuko, are you there?"

Zuko.

He knew that name. Recognized it as his own.

In all that time he'd been here in this basement the boy had never been called by it. Not by anything. However he still knew his name.

His small cries got a little louder as fragments of memories floated in front of him. Than the question was asked again. "Are you there, Zuko?"

The boy, Zuko got up. He walked towards the door, banging on it as hard as he could. He was here. He tried to cry out, but with a sore throat he couldn't create much noise. He tried again, getting a desperate "Help" out this time. He kept calling out to whoever was calling out to him.

**To be continued…**

**A/N: **Well, now it's official it's Zuko in the basement. This chapter was shorter than the last one, I know. Next chapter will probably be the last. I'm not sure when I'll publish it, but I'll try to do it fast.


End file.
